[DenverCard]

I think this year's team stands to be very good.  I thought last year's team was better than some previous years' teams that advanced far in the NCAA playoffs.  [The bookend teams of their three-peat -- 2015 and 2017) were the two best teams in Standford history, but I believe that last year's team was at least on par with, and in some cases better than, the teams of 2016 (NCAA champs, via penalty kicks in the semifinals and finals), 2018 (quarterfinal loss to Akron) and 2019 (semifinal loss to Georgetown).]  And that success last year was despite a season-ending injury to Ousseni Bouda, arguably their best player.

This year, Bouda is back, and he looked really good to me during the half of the exhibition against Bakersfield on Saturday that I was able to watch.  He's very skilled with the ball, he took a wickedly powerful shot, and he works hard on the field.  Meanwhile, the team only lost two starters from last year, and among the returners is Zach Ryan, last year's PAC-12 player of the year.  One of the players who left was their top-notch goalie, Andrew Thomas -- now with the Seattle Sounders -- which is of course concerning, but they have highly regarded recruits to take his place.

The team is deep, as two top-10 recruiting years are, by and large, relegated to waiting their turn by the low attrition from the past couple of years, but who are available to play now in case of injury to starters.

We had some big-time soccer fans on this site a few years ago (Viking Guy, another) whose posts about the soccer teams I really miss.  But I know there are others and I hope we can generate some discussion about the team as the year goes on.

[DenverCard]

I think this year's team stands to be very good.  I thought last year's team was better than some previous years' teams that advanced far in the NCAA playoffs.  [The bookend teams of their three-peat -- 2015 and 2017) were the two best teams in Standford history, but I believe that last year's team was at least on par with, and in some cases better than, the teams of 2016 (NCAA champs, via penalty kicks in the semifinals and finals), 2018 (quarterfinal loss to Akron) and 2019 (semifinal loss to Georgetown).]  And that success last year was despite a season-ending injury to Ousseni Bouda, arguably their best player.

This year, Bouda is back, and he looked really good to me during the half of the exhibition against Bakersfield on Saturday that I was able to watch.  He's very skilled with the ball, he took a wickedly powerful shot, and he works hard on the field.  Meanwhile, the team only lost two starters from last year, and among the returners is Zach Ryan, last year's PAC-12 player of the year.  One of the players who left was their top-notch goalie, Andrew Thomas -- now with the Seattle Sounders -- which is of course concerning, but they have highly regarded recruits to take his place.

The team is deep, as two top-10 recruiting years are, by and large, relegated to waiting their turn by the low attrition from the past couple of years, but who are available to play now in case of injury to starters.

We had some big-time soccer fans on this site a few years ago (Viking Guy, another) whose posts about the soccer teams I really miss.  But I know there are others and I hope we can generate some discussion about the team as the year goes on.